. Little is known about the clinical features and outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Africa. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between March 10, 2020 and July 31, 2020 at seven hospitals in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Outcomes included clinical improvement within 30 days (primary) and in-hospital mortality (secondary). Of 766 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 500 (65.6%) were male, with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) age of 46 (34–58) years. One hundred ninety-one (25%) patients had severe/critical disease requiring admission in the intensive care unit (ICU). Six hundred twenty patients (80.9%) improved and were discharged within 30 days of admission. Overall in-hospital mortality was 13.2% (95% CI: 10.9–15.8), and almost 50% among those in the ICU. Independent risk factors for death were age < 20 years (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] = 6.62, 95% CI: 1.85–23.64), 40–59 years (aHR = 4.45, 95% CI: 1.83–10.79), and ≥ 60 years (aHR = 13.63, 95% CI: 5.70–32.60) compared with those aged 20–39 years, with obesity (aHR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.24–4.27), and with chronic kidney disease (aHR = 5.33, 95% CI: 1.85–15.35). In marginal structural model analysis, there was no statistically significant difference in odds of clinical improvement (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.53, 95% CI: 0.88–2.67, P = 0.132) nor risk of death (aOR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.35–1.20) when comparing the use of chloroquine/azithromycin versus other treatments. In this DRC study, the high mortality among patients aged < 20 years and with severe/critical disease is of great concern, and requires further research for confirmation and targeted interventions.

for the African Forum for Research and Education in Health (AFREhealth) COVID-19 Research Collaboration on Children and Adolescents IMPORTANCE Little is known about COVID-19 outcomes among children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa, where preexisting comorbidities are prevalent. OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical outcomes and factors associated with outcomes among children and adolescents hospitalized with COVID-19 in 6 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cohort study was a retrospective record review of data from 25 hospitals in the

Les formes graves de paludisme à Plasmodium falciparum sont une cause majeure de décès des enfants de moins de 5 ans en Afrique Sub-saharienne. Un traitement rapide dépend de la disponibilité de médicaments appropriés au niveau des points de prestation de service. La fréquence des ruptures de stock des commodités antipaludiques, en particuliers celles utilisées pour le paludisme grave, avait nécessité une mise à jour des hypothèses de quantification. Les données issues de la collecte de routine du PNLP de 2007 à 2012 ont été comparées à celles rapportés par d'autres pays africains et utilisées pour orienter les discussions au cours d'un atelier organisé par le PNLP et ses partenaires techniques et financiers afin de dégager un consensus national. La proportion des cas de paludisme rapportés comme grave en RDC est resté autour d'une médiane de 7% avec un domaine de variation de 6 à 9%. Hormis la proportion rapportée au Kenya (2%), les pays africains ont rapporté une proportion de cas grave variant entre 5 et 7%. Il apparaît que la proportion de 1% précédemment utilisée pour la quantification en RDC a été sous-estimée dans le contexte de la gestion des cas graves sur terrain. Un consensus s'est dégagé autour de la proportion de 5% étant entendu que des efforts de renforcement des capacités seraient déployés afin d'améliorer le diagnostic au niveau des points de prestation des services.